Unity for Ethiopia in Chicago join all Ethiopians inside and outside of the country in mourning the killings of migrants

All of us in Hibret LeEthiopia (Unity for Ethiopia) in Chicago join all Ethiopians inside and outside of the country in mourning the inhuman and horrific beheadings and killings of Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants by the barbaric force of evil called ISIS/ISIL in Libya. While we express our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the martyred Ethiopians and Eritreans, we vehemently condemn this brutal carnage in no uncertain terms possible; and we also join all our sisterly civic groups, churches, and mosques to call upon all well-meaning Ethiopians to put their heads together and devise means and mechanisms of saving and defending those who are already captured by ISIS/ISIL and are waiting for their un-fateful days to be killed. Time is of essence for actions. While we believe that ISIS/ISIL or any extremist religious outfit, for that matter, is a threat to the safety and security of the international community, we urge all Ethiopians, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political orientations to come together to avert all impending cataclysms that are in waiting to visit Ethiopia and Ethiopians globally.

Hibret LeEthiopia (Unity for Ethiopia) in Chicago is organized with the sole purpose of enabling Ethiopians in the greater Chicago area and vicinities to help, support, and collaborate with all Ethiopian democratic forces, civic and/or political organizations, in order to assure the rule of law, respect for human rights, and the liberty of all Ethiopian citizens to live safely and securely in their country.

Fellow Ethiopians: The ordeals that Ethiopians at home and abroad are facing everyday are not limited to the barbaric and unspeakable atrocities of ISIS/ISIL that doesn’t make any distinction along religious or ethnic lines (remember our heroic young Muslim brother beheaded because he refused to be separated from his Christian brothers). Life has become so much unbearable in Ethiopia that untold proportion of the Ethiopian youth and adults (men or women, Christians or Muslims, Oromo, Amara, or Tigre ….) are choosing to leave the country in search of better life elsewhere in the world knowing too well that they may not make it to the promise land. Ethiopian women, especially the young ones, are daily being shipped as sex-slaves and labor indentures in thousands to the Arab countries to only be maltreated, abused, violated, raped, and in many cases killed. Ethiopians could not live in their country peacefully and securely and could not have their natural rights to pursue their interest and fulfill their aspirations under the current ethnocentric regime in Ethiopia.

Ethiopians are now dispersed all over the world living as legal immigrants or illegal aliens. They are exposed to all sorts of humiliations and abuses, including killings. This has happened to Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia and Yemen yesterday. It is happening in Libya and South Africa, a country we helped to be liberated from the ferocious rule of Apartheid and we thought is our friend, today. This could happen in Kenya, Sudan, Djibouti, or other Arab countries where Ethiopians flock to tomorrow. Miseries visited upon Ethiopia by the simple will and whim of the ethnocentric regime of the TPLF are innumerable. Ethiopians have lost their national pride and the country has lost its national sovereignty. The regime in Ethiopia hates Ethiopians and Ethiopia. Just as a very recent reminder, this regime remained lip-tight when many African governments angrily and passionately disapproved and condemned what some xenophobic-zulu-zealots in South Africa did to their African brethren. Adding insult to injury, the TPLF regime’s first and instinctive response to the killings and beheadings of Ethiopians in Libya was that “it did not establish that the victims are Ethiopians”. Amazing; its hate for Ethiopia and Ethiopians is so much intense that it could not even see the political opportunity and gain it could have enjoyed from this sad event in Libya. Now, the question is: no doubt, similar problems would arise here and there, tomorrow or day after tomorrow, and who are we counting on to help and defend Ethiopians at home and abroad? The answer is simple, only Ethiopians!!! Although it’s nice to express concerns and sympathy, shedding tears for the victims, expressing condolences to families and relatives, and issuing wordy and beautiful releases alone will not help. We need actions of UNITY from all and every Ethiopian individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions. We should never have a tint of doubt that the TPLF ethnocentric regime, as supported and emboldened by the unlimited financial, political, and military support of the US Government, will not relent to oppress and suppress the Ethiopian people.

Therefore, cognizant of the fact that the struggle for free Ethiopia is fully Ethiopian in all its sense, we call for immediate and enforceable moratorium on organizational differences and disputes and we urge the immediate formation of one umbrella organization that has the full mandate and authority to streamline all activities of all organizations such that all Ethiopians will have one unified expression of struggle for equality, freedom, and liberty. This umbrella organization must be anchored on the recognition and implementation of three cardinal principles – unity of the Ethiopian people, territorial integrity of Ethiopia, and respect of all citizens’ rights including human and democratic rights. As a starter, we pledge to work with all Ethiopian democratic oppositional political organizations, and also cooperate, collaborate, and even merge with similar sisterly civic associations in Chicago, Midwest, and the USA.

Long Live Ethiopia!
The Executive Committee
Hibret LeEthiopia (UNITY for Ethiopia)

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